Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Gene variants linked to Crohn disease have little effect, study finds
A genetic variant linked to Crohn disease does not raise the average person’s risk of developing the condition, a new study finds.
- Chemistry
Study reports hints of phthalate threat to boys’ IQs
You may have a hard time spelling phthalates, but there’s no avoiding them. They’re in the air you breathe, water you drink and foods you eat. And this ubiquity may carry a price, particularly for young boys, emerging data suggest. Including a drop in their IQ.
- Health & Medicine
Languages use different parts of brain
Different areas are active depending how the grammar of a sentence conveys meaning.
- Life
Insulin-producing cells can regenerate in diabetic mice
Animal study finds that the pancreas can spontaneously regenerate beta cells.
- Chemistry
Skin as a source of drug pollution
Traces of over-the-counter and prescription meds taint the environment. The presumption Ì and it's a good one Ì has been that most of these residues come from the urine and solid wastes excreted by treated patients. But in some instances, a leading source of a drug may be skin Ì either because the medicine was applied there or because people sweat it out.
- Anthropology
Inca cemetery holds brutal glimpses of Spanish violence
Bones from a 500-year-old cemetery have yielded the first direct evidence of Inca death at Spaniards’ hands.
- Health & Medicine
Bees forage with their guts
Researchers show that a gene helps honeybees choose between nectar and pollen.
- Humans
For a rare few, driving and cell phones go well together
Some people do well at combining driving with cell phone use, raising questions about the nature of attention.
- Health & Medicine
Putting African sleeping sickness to bed
Experiments in mice find a protein that could lead to a safer and more effective treatment for parasitic disease.
- Health & Medicine
Junk food junkies, round two
Laura Sanders follows up on a story first reported from the Society for Neuroscience’s 2009 meeting.
- Health & Medicine
Identical twins may not be so identical when it comes to gut bacteria
A new study suggests that intestinal microbe populations vary widely from one person to another.
- Chemistry
Mothballs deserve respect
I don’t use mothballs — except sometimes to sprinkle down the burrows of animals excavating tunnels beneath the deck floor of my pergola. It’s the most effective stop-work order for wildlife that I’ve found. But I won’t use these stinky crystals inside my home because they scare me. And those fears appear justified, according to Linda Hall of the California Environmental Protection Agency.
